Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Access to Banner has been restored. The lack of Banner availability was related to some network connectivity issue outside of Manhattan College. Once this was determined, he network team was able to provide a solution that brought us back online with Banner.

ITS is troubleshooting an issue affecting the admin pages interface of Banner. At this time, users are unable to connect to Banner admin pages, however, access to Banner self-service, Argos report, Degreeworks, and other services is AVAILABLE.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

UPDATE2: This maintenance was successfully completed this morning, Friday, June 1st by 8am. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause. If you have any questions, please reach out to ITS at 718-862-7973 or e-mail us at its@manhattan.edu.UPDATE1: The planned network maintenance was completed this morning by 8:15am, however, additional troubleshooting will need to be conducted Friday morning, June 1st, from 7am-9am. We apologize for this inconvenience. ITS will be conducting planned network maintenance on May 31st from 7am-9am, which will cause some localized network disruptions.

In order to replace some failed equipment, ITS will be conducting some network maintenance in Leo Hall. These upgrades will cause disruption to both the wired and wireless networks throughout Leo Hall. This maintenance will not affect the rest of campus.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause. If you have any questions, please reach out to ITS at 718-862-7973 or e-mail us at its@manhattan.edu.

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Let's kick off week 1 of the Summer Collaboration Challenge by introducing Google Drive, or Drive for short. Drive is part of your JasperNet account that provides virtually unlimited online storage space. We'll explore various parts Drive as a foundation for future weeks.

Google Drive Basics

Starting to use Google Drive is a simple as clicking the Drive icon from the Google Apps menu at the top right of any Google App including Gmail. ITS provides documentation on getting started with Google Drive as well as answers to commonly asked questions. Begin by reviewing Google Drive Cheat Sheet:

Assignment: Click on the Google Apps menu and open Google Drive. Upload a file.

Sharing

Once you have added files to Google Drive, you can choose to keep the files private (default) or share with colleagues or friends. Files are accessible anywhere, from any device. Locate the file that you just uploaded or add another file to explore sharing settings in Drive.

Finding Files - Add to My Drive

Finding files is easy with Drive. Drive uses Google's powerful search technology to find files that best match your search. Drive also allows you to add files that have been shared with you to your Drive - not by copying the file, but rather giving you direct access to the same file that has been shared with you. Simply click the "Add to My Drive" icon to make the file available whenever you access Drive without the need to search.

Assignment: Find a file that has been shared with you and add to "My Drive"

Drive File Stream - Backup

Drive File Stream is a new way to access all of your Google Drive files directly from your Mac or PC, without using up all your disk space. Unlike traditional file sync tools, Drive File Stream doesn’t require you to download your files first in order to access them from your computer. Instead, when you need to view or edit a file, it automatically streams from the cloud, on-demand. With Drive File Stream, your team will spend less time waiting for files to sync, no time worrying about disk space, and more time being productive.

With Drive File Stream, you can:

Quickly see all your Google Drive files in Finder/Explorer (including Team Drives).

Browse and organize Google Drive files without downloading all of them to your computer.

Choose which files or folders you'd like to make available offline.

Open files in common apps like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop.

Assignment: Install and configure Google Drive File Stream:Google DriveOnce you complete reviewing the materials from the first week of the Google Collaboration Challenge take a few minutes to answer these questions: Week 1 Google Drive Questionnaire

Thursday, May 24, 2018

UPDATE: This planned network maintenance was completed by 7:40am. If you have any questions, please contact ITS.ITS will be conducting planned network maintenance on June, 6th from 7am-8am, which may cause some network disruptions.

In order to improve the reliability, security, stability, and capacity of our network connection to campus, ITS will be conducting some upgrades on some network equipment that services the campus. These upgrades will cause disruption to our primary Internet Service Provider connection. During this network outage, our network traffic should route to our backup Internet Service Provider.Users should see little Internet or connectivity issues during this time, however, there may be some cases of speed degradation during the maintenance window. Before the conclusion of the maintenance period, the connection to our primary Internet Service Provider will be restored.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause. If you have any questions, please reach out to ITS at 718-862-7973 or e-mail us at its@manhattan.edu.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

A solution to the intermittent SSO issues reported on Tuesday has been applied overnight. ITS has confirmed that this solution has resolved the reported issues.

Due to a bug in the most recent version of our SSO software, ITS reverted our SSO system to the older version that was in place prior to last weekends upgrade. The bug in the newer version has been reported to our software provider and we are awaiting confirmation that the bug has been patched before reapplying the update.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

ITS has received reports of intermittent issue with JasperNet SSO (Single Sign On). We have confirmed that sessions that have expired (timeout) are causing an error when you try to re-login to any JasperNet service.

The work-around for this issue is to close your web browser (or reboot your computer).

ITS is actively working to identify the root cause of this issue and resolve. As a result, there may be a brief interruption of service when attempting to login to JasperNet services throughout the day.

Monday, May 21, 2018

Google is making some updates to the look and feel of Google Drive on the web. There’s no change in functionality, but some icons and buttons have moved, and there’s a range of visual tweaks to align withGoogle’s latest material design principles. Google built this new interface to create a responsive and efficient experience for Drive users, and to feel cohesive with other G Suite products, such as the recently redesigned Gmail.

Starting Tuesday May 29th, ITS will be releasing a series of weekly tips aimed at improving communication and collaboration within the Manhattan College Community. A new tip will be available each week for the 8 weeks following commencement and before the start of the 2018-2019 academic year. Whether you are on campus or at home - student or employee - anyone can participate!

The 8-week Summer Collaboration Challenge will include tips and tricks ranging from basic to advanced topics such as email, Google Apps, ways to communicate to large audiences, better ways to manage time and activities via online calendars, and many more. Participants will have the opportunity to complete each phase of the 8-week challenge at their own pace - all at once, or as topics are released. Track your progress by completing a short questionnaire at the end of each challenge and earn the 8 -week Collaboration Challenge badge at the end of the program! A digital badge is a way to communicate and track achievement, they make your credentials portable and your skills more visible. You can put the Digital Badge on your resume or link to your LinkedIn account. These badges or digital certificates, are issued by Manhattan College and they do not expire.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is promoting Privacy Awareness Week to foster awareness of privacy issues and the importance of protecting personal information. Safeguarding sensitive data is just plain good business. Are you taking steps to protect personal information?

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Thursday, May 17, 2018 marks the seventh anniversary of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), the annual worldwide event to encourage people to learn about digital accessibility. In that light, we'd like to provide the Manhattan College community with some introduction to this topic, along with some suggestions as to where we can all begin to insure a digitally inclusive and accessible environment at Manhattan College.

What is Digital Accessibility?

Digital accessibility is the practice of insuring that all people, including those with disabilities, can access and use our electronic resources and communications. It encompasses common elements such as:

Websites

Software

Computer hardware and software

Videos

Documents

Presentations

Mobile devices

Who benefits?

Accessibility, usability, and inclusive design are all closely related. While the main focus of digital and web accessibility is people with disabilities, accessibility also benefits people without disabilities, including:

people using mobile phones, smart watches, smart TVs, and other devices with small screens, different input modes, etc.

older people with changing abilities due to aging

people with “temporary disabilities" such as a broken arm or lost glasses

people with “situational limitations” such as in bright sunlight or in an environment where they cannot listen to audio

people with low literacy or not fluent in the language

people using a slow Internet connection, or who have limited or expensive bandwidth

new and infrequent users

Standards

The current standard for accessibility of web and web-delivered content is the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. Web “content” generally refers to the information in a web page (HTML) or web application, and includes text, images, videos, etc. An HTML webpage however, is just a document format, and the core steps needed for accessibility are the same regardless of whether your document is in HTML, Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, or another document format.

Who is Responsible for Accessibility?

Everyone! Accessibility is a shared concern and responsibility.

Manhattan College is currently developing practices that ensure we build accessibility into tools and services.

Any website, learning management system, or other software product, however, is only as accessible as the sum of its parts. Almost every employee has some part in contributing, uploading, and publishing digital resources, the most common and ubiquitous being documents in Word and PDF format, as well as some basic HTML created using WYSIWYG editors.

So how do we get started? Each application one uses for document creation contains tools that enable the creation of accessible documents. Using these tools is the single simplest and most important step in creating accessible documents.

So in support of #GAAD, Manhattan College ITS is encouraging employees to begin to take some simple steps to make your documents accessible.

Use (built-in) Headings

Use Lists

Add Alternate Text for Images

Use Descriptive Text for Links

Use Tables Wisely (and for Data) and Markup Appropriately

When Exporting to PDF, Understand How to Preserve Accessibility

Creating Accessible Word Documents and PDF's

Making Word and resulting PDF's accessible does not require a lot of time. It is best to focus on how you create you original Word document, rather than to trying to later make the resulting PDF accessible.

Use the built-in style settings in Word to make documents easier to navigate. Microsoft's Make your Word documents Accessible topic provides step-by-step instructions and best practices for making Word documents accessible.

If you are creating a pdf from your Word or any Office document, you will need to add accessibility tags to your document before you save an accessible pdf version of your document. Create Accessible PDF's from Word Documents provides instruction on adding Accessibility tags to PDF files before saving as a pdf. Note: Do not print to PDF. This method of creating a PDF does not preserve the document’s accessibility features.

Note on PDF's created by scanning. If scanning a document that contains text, be sure to always select the option that provides for OCR (Optical Character Recognition) results. Scanning software may provide an OCR choice or similar such as "text", "text and graphics", "document", or other description option. Better yet, create your pdf directly from your document creation application, following instructions and best practices for making your original document accessible.

The most important things to know include:

If you haven't already, upgrade to a newer sync solution.

The turn-down will be gradual.

Once the client shuts down for you, the Google Drive folder will stop syncing.

About:

Drive File Stream is a new way to access all of your Google Drive files directly from your Mac or PC, without using up all your disk space. Unlike traditional file sync tools, Drive File Stream doesn’t require you to download your files first in order to access them from your computer. Instead, when you need to view or edit a file, it automatically streams from the cloud, on-demand. With Drive File Stream, your team will spend less time waiting for files to sync, no time worrying about disk space, and more time being productive.

With Drive File Stream, you can:

Quickly see all your Google Drive files in Finder/Explorer (including Team Drives).

Browse and organize Google Drive files without downloading all of them to your computer.

Choose which files or folders you'd like to make available offline.

Open files in common apps like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop.

Environment

Windows

MacOSX

Google Drive

How do I get started?

Install Google Drive Stream. At the conclusion of the installation, you will get a pop up asking whether you want to replace Google Drive Sync with Drive Stream or whether you want to use both. It is recommended that you select "Yes" indicating that you wish to replace.

What about the current Drive application? Before installing File Stream, Google recommends removing the current Drive folder. For ease of use, we think it's best to uninstall the current Drive client.

Uninstall Drive and install File Stream

1. Uninstall the previous Google Drive app or Backup and Sync if it is present on your computer. To uninstall, navigate to the Windows icon in the bottom left corner of the screen and search for "Control Panel" and proceed to open it. You should be greeted with this window:

Once you click on "Program and Features", you will be shown a list of programs that are installed on your computer. Navigate to the Google Drive app that you previously installed on your PC and select it. You will then see appear the option to uninstall that program. Proceed with the uninstall to completely remove the program from your PC.

2. Delete Google Drive Syncfolder from your computer. It is a local folder only now and no longer syncs.

3. Install Drive File Stream. You can find it here. Depending on preferences of the User, it can be a good idea to create shortcuts on the desktop and in the Favorites or Quick Access areas of Windows and MacOS. We also recommend removing any shortcuts to the previous Google Drive folder to avoid confusion.

Also, the Drive File Stream icon in the Windows task bar will be grey, that should be the only Google Drive icon found in the task bar. If you see the older Google Drive Sync colored icon still on your computer go back to step 2 and delete old Google Drive Sync folder.

Feel free to contact the ITS Help Desk with any support in this transition.

Monday, May 7, 2018

All Client Services and Operations offices will be extremely short staffed for Finals Week of the Spring 2018 Semester (May 7th - May 12th). This is due to the students' finals schedule.
Within this time frame, only the following types of issues will be addressed:
Classroom Emergency Issues
Previously Scheduled Appointments
Please be mindful that this policy is being put into place so that we can better support the Manhattan College community. If you have any specific questions or concerns, please email its@manhattan.edu or call 718-862-7973

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Internet services have been moved back to our primary service provider as of Saturday 5/5 after we received notification from our primary ISP that their emergency maintenance to repair construction damaged fiber optic cable had been completed. ITS continues to monitor this connection for abnormalities, however, we are seeing no issues since Saturday.

After reviewing information available to us, we have also concluded that the Banner outage that started at approximately 11PM on May 1 was the result of poor/inconsistent network performance that we experienced when the damage occurred to our provider's fiber optic cable. Since the network connection remained active, although performing poorly, during this incident, our backup connection did not take over (since the primary connection was not "offline"). ITS will work with our network partners to determine the best way to prevent similar issues in the future.

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Our network connection has been successfully moved from our primary to backup provider. We observed an interruption between 2:01-2:03PM. ITS has verified that all network services are back online.

ITS will continue to monitor services during the maintenance window provided by our ISP and return network service to our primary connection once we have confirmed that all emergency maintenance has been completed.

Our Internet Service Provider has advised us of emergency maintenance that will be taking place this afternoon to repair a fiber optic cable due to construction damage. As a result, ITS will be moving our Internet connection to our backup provider at 2:00PM TODAY to avoid any prolonged outage that may result form this unplanned emergency maintenance. Users may experience a brief interruption at 2:00PM when this change is made. In most cases, simply reloading the page should resolve the issue.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

ITS personnel worked much of the night troubleshooting and restoring services. Services were mostly restored in a slightly degraded state by 8am, then completely restored before 9am.

The Banner production issue was found to be completely unrelated to yesterday evening's maintenance and was due to an issue with our primary internet service provider.

Some other services were affected and running in a degraded state when accessed from on campus locations.

Currently we are working with out Internet Service Provider to pinpoint exactly where the issue occurred and ensure it does not happen again.

We will continue to update the blog as we are able to acquire new information.

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Dear Colleagues,

While performing maintenance, which required a reboot, the production Banner Admin pages would not come back on line. ITS has issued a priority 1 ticket with Ellucian, which is the highest level priority available. An update will be provided once we know more. Self-Service is not impacted by this outage.